40 year old farmer sentenced to 18 years in Jail for stealing a chicken valued at K25

A FORTY-FOUR –year-old peasant farmer of Sinda District has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment with hardlabour by the Chipata High Court for stealing a chicken valued at K25.

Appearing before High Court Judge Petronella Ngulube was Masautso Banda of Chenkwe village of Ching’ombe Community School in Chieftainess Nyanje’s area who was convicted with one count of aggravated robbery contrary to section 294(1) of the penal code Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

Particulars of the offence were that on January 1st 2016, the convict whilst armed with an offensive weapon namely a machete did rob Davis Miti of his chicken valued at K25 and at or immediately before or immediately after the time of such robbery did use or threaten to use actual violence of the victim in order to obtain or retain the thing stolen or to prevent or overcome resistance to its being stolen or retained.

The court heard that the convict did steal the chicken of Miti , 20 of Kabenda village around 04:00 hours and at the same time he wounded the victim with a machete.

The court heard that the victim sustained a cut on the left hand and after that he managed to run away.

He was apprehended whilst holding a chicken which he had stolen from a chicken ran and taken to police where he was charged with the offence of aggravated robbery.

In mitigation, Banda said he was a first offender and begged the court to exercise maximum leniency on him.

Passing ruling, Ms Justice Ngulube said she heard what was in the mitigation but stated using a machete was an aggravated factor.

58 COMMENTS

This bit too harsh. 1 year with hard labour would still teach him a lesson. Our politicians are stealing and yet get a small slap on the wrist with simple imprisonment and a day later out on bail. This kaya mwe

He did actually use the machete on the victim so thats intent to kill. Anyone you use a dangerous weapon to commit a crime it changes everything to ”aggrevated”. If he didnt have a weapon he could have just recieved a fine

This magistrate should be remembered when it is time for Lungu to appear in the courts for treasonous crimes against the Zambian people. He should be promptly promoted as a Hugh Court judge to deal with these PF thieves who cannot even refund us our money as ruled by the infamous Kangaroo Court.

Why jail to 18 years a man who steals a chicken for New Year’s celebrations and leave Edgar’s thieving staff? The AG’s audit reports is out and all efforts must be focused on naming and shaming the thieves who got away with K 500,000,000 plus of tax payer’s money. Where’s the justice in all this??

Sorry Vizungu you’ve got it wrong. As long as you are armed with a weapon: panga, catapult, gun, even a toy gun it is armed robbery. If you arent armed but threaten violence during robbery that is aggravated robbery

THIS IS PHARISISM WORKING IN COURTS TODAY. THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN SENTENCE THEFT AS AN AGRIVATED ROBERY. IN ANY SENCE I FEEL BAD THOUGH HE NOT MY RELATIVE COMPIRED TO THOSE WHO ARE KILLING PEOPLE BEING FREED. PLEASE I CONDEMN THE ACT BUT ALSO THE CHARGE GIVEN TO STEALING A CHICKEN SOUND TO ME AS NOT FAIR. HOW DO YOU SEND SOMEONE TO WHAT YOU ARE NOW CALLING REHABILITATION CENTER FOR 18 YEARS FOR A CHICKEN AND I SUSPECT HE HAS LEFT A FAMILY HOME.

Read my comment below :
Its the law in almost every democratic country! Doesn’t matter the value of the item you steal as long as you use a DANGEROUS WEAPON in committing the felony. If he didn’t have a machete, he would have received a fine or maybe a couple of weeks of jail time. It changes everything anytime you use a weapon that can kill someone e.g knife,gun,machete, axe etc.

The chicken is just a distraction. Good decision to clap him in irons; there is potential of that man doing more serious things going forward. Now for the sake of the chicken and first offender situation, a lesser sentence would be just fine. Hopefully he gets a pardon one of these ceremonial days…if he behaves in gaol.

Its the law in almost every democratic country! Doesn’t matter the value of the item you steal as long as you use a DANGEROUS WEAPON in committing the felony. If he didn’t have a machete, he would have received a fine or maybe a couple of weeks of jail time. It changes everything anytime you use a weapon that can kill someone e.g knife,gun,machete, axe etc.

Only the poor and uneducated dont know this…even in the UK if you arm yourself and walk in a Post Office to steal £5 you will face the full weight of the law because of the distress caused but a clerk who misappropriates £500 in the selfsame Post Office will probably see only two years in prison.

That’s harsh indeed but the problem is that he had a machete and that changes everything.. it’s sad when rapists and politicians who commit heinous crimes walk freely.. the guy was going to feed his poor family I guess or rather sell it to buy food for his starving family..boma iyanganepo

A lot of young black boys in the US are facing lengthy sentences because of this ignorance …if you arm yourself with a swiss knife and walk in a corner shop to grab pocket money …its felony – a crime regarded in the US and many other judicial systems as more serious than a misdemeanor. This is why only poor uneducated ***** still rob banks and cars at gunpoint..the smart ones are hiding behind computers at least they wont serve the same time as the ***** when they are caught.

Meaning that this convict could not raise village chickens which do not require feeding at all? 18 years is good enough to teach him the lesson. Please extend such sentences to those that chew public funds so that we can get rid of them at least for now.

Really laughable ….this High Court Judge Petronella is a total f**l who is crowding the prisons with such useless sentences; Yes he deserves a sentence because he was armed and caused distress but 18 years….look at the AG report misappropriation and unvouched expenditure in the millions by civil servants and ministers, noone questions them and you sentence someone for stealing a chicken.

This is unjustifiable.Stealing a Chicken and sentencing the plaintiff to 18 Years i feel its a misdirection of power.

An ideal punishment would have been 1 year 6 months with six months probation.The offender would regret of his mistake.

The Sentence for 18 Years was ideal for that Katete Sex Offender for sodomising a fellow inmate.This was and is against natural laws of sex.The Sharia Law should be incorporated for such sexual mental disoders.

If politicians only got the same sentencing for stealing from the public, it would be really teach a lesson to would be offender. Banda has been harshly sentenced and am sure it is due to lack of being represented by a lawyer.

The point noted is that this is a charge of AGGRAVATED ROBBERY. Its not theft or burglary. Even if he carried a stick with him, or an iron bar, its aggravated robbery.

As soon as he is convicted of Aggravated robbery, there is a MINIMUM SENTENCE prescribed by the Law, and then there is a MAXIMUM SENTENCE prescribed in our Penal Code.

For aggravated robbery, the Maximum is a life sentence (25 years) and the absolute minimum the judge is allowed to give is 15 years. So there is no way the Judge can hand out 6 months as some bloggers suggest.

@29 nkungulu you’re wrong, what I said is a simple summary of what joseph has said. I added Upnd because they have brought in politics when it has nothing to do with the issue at hand. There is nothing wrong with what I said for those who not prejudiced